This month’s Healthy Haul is a bit more treaty and indulgent than usual because, well, it’s December when days are short, the weather’s rubbish and life is busier than ever. All good reasons to turn my bathroom into a spa (with a new body scrub), carve out some relaxing me time (by the light of a new scented candle), pop a pill to make sure I’m getting the nutrients I need (with a hair supplement), stick to my yoga routine (new yoga pants are definitely helping) and plan my health and fitness goals for next year (in an awesome diary). For more detail, keep reading…

Rose Tea Body Scrub, £28 for 500ml, Sabon

I hadn’t heard of Sabon until I was invited to the launch of their first UK store (in Covent Garden, more are planned around the country) a couple of months ago. If you’re as in the dark as I was, Sabon is a bath and body brand that started in Tel Aviv back in the nineties, has since expanded to 130 stores worldwide and counts Drew Barrymore as a fan. The products are all SLS and paraben free and use herbs, flowers and essential oils for their aromatherapy and healing properties. I couldn’t make the launch but the PR very kindly offered to send me a product to try. During the winter months my skin starts to get dry and scaly so I opted for the Rose Tea Body Scrub which is a mixture of minerals, Dead Sea salt and macadamia, almond and soya bean oils, is a pleasing shade of pink in colour and comes in a vintage style glass jar making it a pretty addition to my bathroom. Once I got the lid off (it was screwed on VERY tightly!) my bathroom was filled with a delicate slightly sweet rose scent. It gently smoothes away dry skin, without leaving my body covered in a thick layer of oily residue like some other scrubs. Thumbs up.
The store is at 38 Neal Street and you can find out more about the brand here

Perfect Peace Candle, £32, Neom

I love candlelight and I’ve long been a lover of Neom’s 100% natural scented candles. The Perfect Peace candle is a non-trad take on Christmas, blending as it does pine, myrrh and lime peel which are variously calming (pine), relaxing (myrrh) and uplifting (lime peel). So it leaves you feeling peaceful and renewed at the same time. Just what you need at this time of year. Also it makes my living room smell lovely.
You can buy one here

Lustrous Locks, from £15, Inner Me

I feel as if my hair has been getting thinner lately and so, after finishing a month course of general supplements I switched to Inner Me’s hair-focussed ones. The tablets (you take two a day) contain various vitamins and minerals that help maintain healthy hair. I always think it’s tricky to tell how much of a difference supplements are making but a couple of weeks into taking these we had a Rock My Style meeting and Lauren commented that my locks were looking long (she probably said hair, but in a hair piece you can say hair too many times and, oh dear…) and later that same week my yoga teacher asked if I’d had my hair cut (I hadn’t), usually a sign that one’s hair is looking good, I think?! At the end of four weeks my hair definitely felt thicker and looked, well, more lustrous. These do what they say on the tin. Or box, to be precise.
You can buy there here

Wunder Under Full On Luon Pant, £82, Lululemon

I’ve been averaging four to five yoga classes a week lately (I’m all about getting good value from my monthly membership, plus it gets me away from desk and out of the house) which means I get through a lot of kit and some of it was starting to look a bit tired. I’m slowly replacing my worn out pieces with lovely new kit, starting with these full length pants from Lululemon. They’re not cheap but my workout wardrobe already includes lots of Lululemon so I can vouch for how long their stuff lasts. Shape-wise these pants are reasonably high in the waist, long of leg (but shorties like me can roll them up) and have a suck-you-in second-skin-like fit all over that doesn’t restrict you one bit in even the most complicated of arm balances. They keep their shape well (no knee bagginess even at the end of the most vigorous of classes) and being classic in style look just as good off the mat as they do on it, so you could totally get away with wearing yoga pants all day. Not that I would do that. Erm…
You can buy them here

Move Nourish Believe 2015 Diary, Lorna Jane

Technology is great and I’ve embraced it in many areas of my life I never thought I would, reading books and mags on my iPad and and shopping at Topshop on my iPhone, but I still can’t shake the habit of a paper diary. Appointments just seem more real when they’re written down with pen on paper and at the end of the year I like being able to look back and see what I’ve done and where I’ve been. When I spotted that Lorna Jane (an Aussie fitness brand and also a real and very inspiring person!) was bringing out a diary for 2015 I asked my sister to buy it for my birthday. It’s bigger than I expected, around A4 in size, so more of a desk diary than one you carry around with you. It’s packed with motivation and inspiration for a healthy and happy year including seasonal recipes and workouts you can do anywhere, plus features on things like meditation and graditude. There’s also plenty of space to plan your year and write down, well, whatever. I’m going to use it primarily for recording my year in food and fitness. I plan to mix in some cardio with my yoga and try (at least) one new veggie-packed recipe a week. There, I’ve written it down. So it’s really happening. Right?!
It looks as if the diary has sold out at Active In Style (the UK stockists of Lorna Jane) but it’s still available on the Lorna Jane site here

Made any healthy buys lately, or got any on your Christmas wish list? Do you find it hard to stick to your healthy routines at this time of year? How do you stay motivated? As ever, do share below!